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ati-drivers-8.27.10-r1 - possible scan rate control problem?

Hi,
New forum member here. Thanks in advance for putting this forum together. It looks like it can be quite helpful.

QUESTION: How do I set the monitor scan rates in xorg.conf for 8.27.0?

I'll keep it moderately breif. I'm a Gentoo user with a MythTV network that's been up for about 16 months. I run a 2-tuner server, 3 Linux desktop machines that run mythfrontend, and two dedicated Pundit-R machines attached to TV. The network was in need of updating so all the machines got new kernels which necessitated new ati-drivers where appropriate. I have Myth running correctly and displaying to most machines but I have one Pundit-R machine that's having some problems. I suspect it's a scan rate issue, or would at least like to eliminate that as a problem.

2) Both of these machine have been updated and are running as much as possible exactly the same software. (Myth, ati-drivers, Gentoo stuff, fluxbox)

3) Both machines use the S-Video output to drive TVs. The one that fails also uses the conposit video output.

4) One machine works completely correctly driving the Sony in the bedroom.

5) One machine fails with a blue screen on the Mitsubishi in the living room.

6) The failing machine has mythfrontend and fluxbox running when I ssh into it. If I kill them I see the screen on the Mitsubishi come back to the console and the myth and fluxbox restart automatically by design. The TV then goes blue screen again like it's getting no signal, or a signal with the wrong scan rate or no signal output.

7) Even though I used the aticonfig program to update the xorg.conf file it seems that there are still things that aren't correct:

7) In my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file I no longer see a command for setting the scan rate of the monitor. I have a vague recollection of having this problem using the driver 16 months ago and having to set the scan rate down to something low.

I can post lots of other info here if needed. I'll stop for now and hope for some conversation on the problems.

Are you able to post your complete xorg.conf ? (is it exactly identical to the working box?)

Also, out of curiosity, what is the output of aticonfig --tv-info on the problematic system?

What aticonfig option did you pass to update your xorg.conf? If you used aticonfig --initial I don't believe you should still be seeing those Option XXXXX is not used entries in your log, unless you had changed your configuration after running --initial. If you hadn't try using aticonfig --initial and see how it goes. More TV-specific options can be found from aticonfig --help

I believe the xorg.conf files are identical between the two Pundit-R's. They were at one time a week or two ago as I just copied the working from from myth12 to myth14 after I first got myth12 working. I Cannot get the myth12 file right now as my wife is asleep and that machine is currently off. I'll check it later this morning.

If you think it's better that I remove the existing xorg.conf file and start from scratch let me know.

I *think* that when I tried the --initial option I didn't understand the man page con aticonfig and probably used it wrong. As I remember it I didn't get a file at all. Later I took the xorg.conf that worked with ati-drivers circa 8.14.12 and used the --input option to let aticonfig modify the existing file. That's what I'm currently using.

Reading through the man page again I found the horizontal and vertical sync commands so I got aticonfig to add those. I've set them to bogus values right now as I'm not able to find documentation on how they should be set to drive a TV. Those changes did not change my blue screen on the Mitsubishi so far but I'm sure the values are wrong.

Here's the file in it's current state. I turned off DRI after posting yesterday:

Michael,
Thanks for the response. Sorry for the slow reply. I've been spending time ensuring that both machines are as close to identical in terms of what they are running. That took a while. However, now they are just about as close as I can make them and still no improvement. Here's some status:

1) myth12 functions correctly hooked *directly* to my Sony using both the old xorg.conf file and the new xorg.conf file. I get different warning messages in /var/log/Xorg.0.log but both files work on this machine.

2) myth14 doesn't give a picture hooked to my Sony AV receiver which then goes to the Mitsubishi in the living room using either the old xorg.conf OR the new xorg.conf. However, with either file the Xorg.0.log file is identical to the appropriate myth12 log file. Basically all the software says everything is working identically. I just don't get a picture.

I'm not sure what to make of any of this. I think I must be doing something silly but haven't figured it out. How do I create a real basic xorg.conf file using aticonfig from scratch? I don't seem to get that.

One thing I have not done and really should do is drag MYth12 from the bedroom into the living room and hook it up to the receiver to make sure there isn't some problem beyond the machine. Possibly I can try that tomorrow.

BTW - I should have mentioned that on myth12, the good machine, both 8.26.18-r1 and 8.27.10-r1 work fine with both the old and new xorg.conf files. On myth14 however neither ati-driver with either xorg.conf file creates a usable output.

Also, using the remote control I can navigate the MythTV menus blind. Doing this I can get to a recorded file and start it at which time I hear audio coming from the playback, so MYthTV is working and I'm just not able to configure the display correcctly.

To generate a completely new X configuration file, you should be able to do Xorg -configure, which is the default automatic way for Gentoo. It will then write it to /root/xorg.conf.new, and you then can test that configuration file without the ATI support, or immediately move it into the appropriate location, and then run aticonfig --initial. Hopefully that should work.

Hi Michael,
No, I'm afraid I didn;t. I then got quite frustrated and gave up. The family is not happy with me. Now that I've rested for a couple of weeks maybe it's time for me to try again. It would be nice to have it working.

I didn't know there was a new driver. I just updated Gentoo portage and it still shows 8.27.10-r1 as the newest so it appears I'll have to wait on that.

If you know of any online info about how to actually set up the ATI driver from scratch I would appreciate it. I seem to be unable to do this on my own.